Keith, Australia's Land Rover On A Pole

For those readers fortunate enough to travel down under, (or those who live there, please write if you do) here is an interesting roadside attraction you might want to visit.

On Duke’s Highway, in the town of Keith, South Australia, there is a Land Rover on a pole. Yup. A Land Rover. On a pole. That’s it.

“Why would anyone put a Land Rover on a pole?” you may be inclined to ask.

One resident, and the man “behind” the monument, Bill Mayfield, says "Most of the locals just call it Truck on a stick."

Says Mayfied, once you know the story, it makes a little more sense.

In the 1940s, Keith was a small farming community surrounded great expanses of arid land, known as the Ninety Mile Desert.

An insurance man from Sydney, Hugh Robinson, bought the "useless" land from the Government, hatching a land scheme to turn it into productive farmland, inviting others to chip in on the effort in exchange for cheap land.

Mayfield says "They said 'All you young budding farmers come and work here for 10 years, clear it, rake it and sow it, and at the end you can buy the land at good interest rates as your reward'."

At that time the roads around Keith were all sand or mud, and "Everyone was getting around in Land Rovers," according to Mr. Mayfield. "They were light and they were affordable and there were lots of them around after the war."

His father, Colin Mayfield, now 93 years old, was one of the farmers that came to settle in Keith, and lived on his property up until nearly a year ago.

In the early 1990s, the idea of creating a memorial to Keith's original decade of development was first thrown about, and the the Land Rover on a pole was the result. The pole itself was actually used, strung between two bulldozers, to help clear the land in those early days.

Of course, none of the locals wanted to part with their Land Rovers, so local enthusiasts pulled together parts from over 40 different wrecks in order to build a passable Series One. Along with the Land Rover, the monument also consists of two of the original “Wiles” huts, which were commonly used to house workers during the early days of the venture.

One might also be inclined to ask if Mr. Mayfield is concerned about theft, although one would need to be pretty sneaky with a crane to get the whole thing. Mayfield says that shortly after it opened, in 1995, thieves attempted to target the monument, hoping to cash in on some rare Series 1 parts.

"At the time, taillights on the Land Rovers were pressed tin, very rare and going for about 80 bucks a pop each," he said. Unbeknownst to the would-be thieves, the lights on the pole-top Rover were just tin look-a-likes that Mayfield made in his shed.

"Someone had climbed up and unbolted these fake taillights and thought they were getting away with a good deal," he laughed.

Mayfield says the Wiles huts often confuse people too.

"We had a…school come down for a little talk and one of the kids thought it was a block of toilets," he said. "Someone else thought it was accommodation you could rent for the night."

As for the Land Rover, there are rumors that they too are occasionally sought out as lodging for the night.

"I've heard stories about late nights and guys and girls will get up there and do whatever it is they do," he said.

Cadillac Ranch is cool, but surely there must be some Land Rover-based monuments in the US to compete with our neighbors to the South. If you know of any, send us a note!